Since 2012, Wyndham Worldwide has been boxing with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in an unprecedented bout that has forced us to take a hard look at how data security and privacy are enforced in the United States.
What key components have contributed to the growth of RAR over the last 6 months? At RAR we are actively and continually involved in all facets of the tourism and hospitality industry. We have focused on bringing the latest trends to each hotel with a focus on driving revenue and building loyalty. After generating revenue, we concentrate on optimizing that revenue and converting it to net income. We are always cognizant of asset value and net income is what measures that value.
The hotel industry has seen a proliferation in the number of players and stakeholders that can and should be involved in a successful hotel. Hotel brands, owners and management companies have created permutations and combinations of operating models that, when used appropriately, will increase profitability, make a project more attractive to lenders and add value to guests. Given this, the question owners must then ask themselves is: What model is right for my hotel? This article aims to provide a brief overview and comparison of leases, franchises and management agreements.
Nota bene: After opening the month by discussing the imaginary situation where SEO is no longer a significant factor in web search as well as alluding to the potential drawbacks that negative reviews on third-party sites like TripAdvisor in another article, it seems appropriate to end the month by talking about another hypothetical situation. Again, it may be true or it may be false, but what's really important is that it gets you thinking!
The recent Uber lawsuit | On September 9, 2014, Uber Technologies was sued in Federal Court in San Francisco for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and California's Unruh Act. The suit arose from the claim that UberX drivers refused to allow blind riders to bring their guide dogs. For a copy of the complaint, click here to see Natl Federation of the Blind v. Uber Technologies. This is just the latest in a long history of complaints or enforcement actions involving the legal requirements concerning "service animals" under the ADA and corresponding state laws such as California's Unruh Act.
When a hotel management agreement is terminated without the consent of the manager, the law clearly allows the manager to recover damages (from the owner) as a result of the termination. In most cases, the owners and managers resolve their issues without litigation. For the substantial number that cannot agree and thus must be adjudicated, the courts have supported solid estimates of forgone fees for determining damage awards, based on careful, defensible calculations of the hotel's performance during the prospective contractual period.
Hotel financing takes different forms based on the capital requirements of the developer and the availability of alternative financing sources. These factors vary with the economic climate. Typically, hotel developers attempt to finance new hotel construction projects with a combination of debt and equity. Within these two general categories of capital, various sources may be required to fund the project. This article investigates the benefits and risks of seeking equity participation from hotel management companies.
After accounting for differences in branding, location, property age and condition, market size, and property type, do different management companies still produce significantly different results? This article shows that the answer is: YES.
How EB-5 Regional Centers and Sponsors Can Evaluate Broker-Dealer, Investment Company and Investment Adviser Registration Requirements under U.S. Securities Laws
Over the past 5 years, JMBM's team has helped clients with more than 40 EB-5 projects all over the U.S. The program is more popular than ever and the standards continue to rise for sponsors who want to advantage of this funding technique.
If you are buying, building or refinancing a hotel, you'll almost certainly be looking to a bank or other lender to finance the hotel, and when you do, you'll need to negotiate dozens of documents, some long, some short, but all of them necessary to get your loan. In other articles, we have talked about the importance of subordination, non-disturbance and attornment agreements (SNDAs). SNDAs are used in the context of a hotel management agreement (HMA) -- usually only long-term branded HMAs -- to define the rights of lenders vis a vis the hotel operator in the event of the owner's/borrower's loan default, breach of the HMA, foreclosure by the lender or a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure.
In recent years, the topic of "brand versus independent" has become increasingly popular. Every industry conference has a panel titled the same, numerous articles - and blogs - are being written on the topic by every publication, HotelNewsNow recently launched a newsletter dedicated to independent hotels, the inaugural Independent Lodging Congress took place in Philadelphia in late 2013 focused on gathering the owners and operators of independent hotels, and if that were not enough, numerous high profile "de-flagging" lawsuits have certainly highlighted the topic. While it is hard to attribute the peaking interest on this topic to only a few things, clearly owners are questioning the cost/benefit of a chain affiliation, internet distribution and marketing have dramatically leveled the playing field over the past 10 years, customer loyalty is not what it used to be and consumer preferences are certainly evolving.
Omer Z. Kaddouri was the Executive Vice President and the Chief Operating Officer of Rotana at the time of this interview. Now, he has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Rotana. Omer is an energetic and a demanding boss. He takes pride in the fact that he is fair and a people manager. Born to an Iraqi father and a British mother, Omer Kaddouri grew up in the Middle East and learned Arabic in his youth. His mixed family exposed him to various cultures which gave him a great advantage throughout his career, and he is proud of it.
Old England did a successful publicity stunt. London is strutting about on the radio waves and in the gazettes boasting first place as world tourism capital with 16 million international visitors, ahead of Paris, Bangkok and New York. TYPO3SEARCH_begin CONTENT ELEMENT, uid:72857/text [begin] Text: [begin]
As the economy and the hotel industry fundamentals continue to improve, hotel values have recovered to pre-recession levels in many of the top 35 hotel markets, the number of hotel transactions has jumped and new capital is pouring into hotels. This new capital -- whether focused on new, ground-up development, or the purchase of neglected assets with a view to deep renovation and rebranding -- is increasingly seeking new brands and management for their hotels. We have not seen this many people looking for a great operator and a fair hotel management agreement in many years!
Golf courses are back in popularity -- for play, purchase and sale, and development. Whatever your involvement, you will likely find today's article by my partner Guy Maisnik to be interesting and helpful in avoiding unnecessary losses.
While it may have been the least productive year for Congress in history, at least in terms of passing laws – fewer than 60 of which made it through the House and Senate and were signed by President Barack Obama, state lawmakers across the US were busy getting more than 40,000 bills passed including ones that tackle everything from drones to minimum wage to food stamp benefits.
Hotel investors suddenly seem to be buying or building more golf courses. With the right expectations and circumstances, golf courses can make sense -- particularly as an amenity for hotels, residential development and other real estate. But as more hospitality clients look at golf courses, it seems appropriate to consider the drivers of this renewed interest, and some of the similarities golf courses share with other hospitality investments such as hotels. And finally, we want to look at some of the big factors that make golf courses very different from other hospitality investments, so you can avoid some unnecessary pitfalls.
These are getting to be pretty exciting times to be in the hotel business. Hotel industry fundamentals have continued to improve since the Great Recession and none of the experts see a particular event or reason that fundamentals will stall. Although occupancy growth rate is slowing in some sectors, ADR growth generally continues to drive greater profits to the bottom line.
Hotels serve large numbers of people of all socio-economic groups, races, genders and interests and we are often at the center of the action. As I mentioned two weeks ago, our changing times means embracing open discussion, preparing contingency plans and working with to properly handle those changing needs in changing times.